By The Financial District
Feb 291 min
Ruth Gottesman, a 96-year-old widow, has made headlines by generously donating $1 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York.
Gottesman intends to provide free tuition for students of the medical school, located in New York City's poorest borough. I Photos: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
The unexpected windfall came to light when her husband passed away in 2022, leaving behind a significant portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway stock, unbeknownst to Ruth.
Following her husband's only instruction to "do whatever you think is right with it," Ruth decided to allocate the entire sum to funding tuition for medical students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Gottesman intends to provide free tuition for students of the medical school, located in New York City's poorest borough.
This extraordinary gift ensures that medical students at Albert Einstein College will have their tuition covered indefinitely. The donation will reimburse current fourth-year students for their spring 2024 tuition fees, and from August onward, all current and future students will attend tuition-free.
Ruth Gottesman, a clinical professor emerita of pediatrics at Einstein, has been associated with the college since 1968 and currently serves as the chair of the school's board of trustees.
Her husband, David "Sandy" Gottesman, was an early investor in Berkshire Hathaway, having forged a friendship with Warren Buffett in the 1960s.
His successful investment career, including the founding of his own investment firm, First Manhattan Co., paved the way for this remarkable act of philanthropy by Ruth Gottesman.